Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays, everyone! I hope you all have a great next couple of weeks. I got a Christmas present in the mail yesterday. OK, so I ordered it six months ago and it just happened to show up before Christmas...well planned.

Lowell Brewing Co. has now doubled its fermenting capacity to a whopping 20 gallons or 2/3 bbl with the additional fermentor! This will allow me to have two beers fermenting at the same time. I also have another project coming up regarding a new keezer that maybe I won't reveal until it is complete. Thanks, Micah and Jeff, for helping me out with some of the wood working!  I will be kegging the 4th batch of Busted Wing IPA tomorrow. It varies slightly from the previous batches as it has a little more hop flavor and is more heavily dry-hopped. Should be tasty. I also threw Muddy Huddy into the ring for the annual Mountain Sun brewpub Stout Month competition. If it wins, a 6 bbl batch will be brewed and served at all three locations...pretty cool! I'm not holding my breath though. I'm trying to finish all of these projects in the next month and get things in order so I can free up some time for the new addition to our family in March! I know I don't usually go into topics outside of brewing, but I have a lot to be thankful for in this past year. First and foremost, my amazing wife, Sally and the upcoming arrival of our first kiddo. I couldn't be more excited and truly in awe with the whole experience, notably the strength and loving nature of Sally. I have also realized how lucky I am to have the family that I do and how important every single one of them are to me. So, on that note, have a great holiday and I'll check back very soon. Treat yourself to well-made, craft beers this holiday season and appreciate what you have in life while you sip!

Muddy Huddy!

This weekend I brewed a beer inspired by my buddy, Micah. Literally, we could go to a brewery with 30 beers on tap and he'll drink stout all evening. Therefore, he get's a stout coming out of Lowell Brewing. He and his wife chose to name it Muddy Huddy! Their newly born son's name is Hudson...so you can figure that one out. I wanted to make the beer very complex with a range of malts including a big roast character. I also used some CTZ, Chinook, Centennial, and Wilamette hops in it. After the mash, I realized that maybe I used a little too many specialty malts as the beer came out with a huge mouthfeel and body. Hopefully the 8% alcohol will thin that out a bit!

I also waxed the bottles of Oaked Townie Brown this weekend.This guy is a 13.1% Imperial Brown Ale brewed with British malts, maple syrup, and brown sugar. It was aged in an oak barrel for 6 months and is ready to go! It's pretty delicious and a great after dinner beer with dessert.

The waxing got a tiny bit out of control, I'll have to trim the drips a bit!

Olivia, Micah's wife, showing how Oaked Townie Brown is a great after-run beverage

Muddy Huddy should be ready to drink round the first week of December. I'm looking forward to a nice, hefty cold weather sipper. Until next time...

What's next?

The IPA is running low and it is always nice to have one of those on tap...especially with my new shipment of Amarillo and Centennial hops....mmmmmm. Although, I have been wanting to brew a stout lately, maybe something with a huge roast profile, hint of chocolate, and American hops. I'll have to consult the Stout King, Micah on this one. Thoughts? I know Jeff will combine the two and want a Black IPA...also an option. I'm in the process of repairing the brewery after my mash tun temperature probe died on me. Once that is in, I'm back on the saddle. I am also designing a new hopback/trub filter for the brewery...that way I can get the late hop aroma I've been looking for. Hope everyone is doing well, check back soon!

Fine Time for Barleywine!

I brewed 10 gallons of English Barleywine this past weekend and 5 gallons of an English Mild. The 10 gallons of Barleywine came from the first runnings of the mash (OG 1.094 or finishing at ~10% alcohol) and the 5 gallons of English mild came from the second runnings and some sparge water (OG 1.035 or finishing at ~3.5% alcohol). I also added about a cup of malt extract to the mild along with some roasted grain. Note to self: 42 lbs. of grain is a wee bit over the max capacity of my mash tun! This is with a thick mash too, about 1 quart/lb. of grain. For those readers that do not brew, you probably have no idea what I am talking about. Feel free to ask me some questions!

Mash Tun to Capacity

So, by the time these guys are done fermenting, I should have 15 gallons of beer. My oak barrel is empty, so I will be filling that with 5 gallons of the strong stuff and then putting the rest of the two beers in two kegs. The taps will then be full again! I'll have the Hopocaplypse, Bellamy Amber, English Mild, and English Barleywine pouring. I'm going to try and get all of the Oaked Townie Brown into bottles very soon and wax them. Christmas presents? 

Mug, the English Barleywine in the conical and Thimble, the English Mild in the carboy to the right!

Bellamy Amber and San Diego Breweries

I woke up early this morning and started to brew a batch of Bellamy Amber. Along with Hopocalypse, this one will also be served at Erin and Phil's wedding at the end of October! Hope it turns out OK. I tweaked the recipe a bit to cater to the wedding couple's requests. Trying to get a lot of malt flavor and aroma, less bitterness, a little more hop aroma. Hopocalypse turned out to be a great IPA. It's pretty hoppy and it has a nice wet hop aroma.

Hess Brewing

I just got back from a work trip to San Diego and managed to squeeze in a couple of brewery visits while I was there. I traveled up to the emerald city in Escondido...that's right, Stone Brewing. It's an amazing brewery and resaturant and I had some phenomenal beers and food. I also stopped by Green Flash which was 1 mile from the hotel. Although, these were not the best ones on the trip. That honor goes to Hess Brewing in Sand Diego! This brewery was housed in a 800 sq foot warehouse and brews 50 gallon batches. It was really inspiring and the beers were delicious. Check them out: Hess Brewing .